Parties fail privacy test

PRIVACY advocates in Australia have been underwhelmed by the privacy commitments of the two major parties, giving both sides of politics a failing grade for privacy protections.

The Australian Privacy Foundation set an election challenge last July asking that the parties declare their positions on eight critical privacy issues.

“The government and the alternative government continue to score very badly on privacy”, APF chairman Roger Clarke said.

The privacy foundation gave the Coaltion just 1.5 out of ten for its privacy policies, while Labor also failed with 4.5 out of ten.

“For its total disregard of privacy issues, we need look no further than the recent law introduced by the Government – the new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financial (AML-CTF) Law,” Mr Clarke said.

“Thousands of small businesses are required to collect much more information from customers, and dob them in for anything suspicious.”

“This isn’t just more red-tape for small business; it destroys the trust within Australian society. Alarm bells should be raised merely from the fact that the Government is trying not to draw attention to this new law before the election.”

The Coalition simply ignored key privacy issues. It did not rule out a further attempt to bring in a de facto ID card via the Access Card proposal, and it did not rule out the use of biometrics and RFID tagging of humans.

The Greens and the Democrats faired much better, rating eight and nine out of ten respectively.

The Democrats strong showing “perhaps a reflection of Senator Natasha Stott- Despoja’s commitment to privacy issues over many years” said Clarke.

The Greens high rating was due to the Party’s opposition to the Access Card proposal and its campaign against the excessive elements in the counter terrorism laws.

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Second US state bans RFID chipping

A SECOND state in US has passed laws specifically banning the use of radio frequency ID (RFID) implanted in humans, such is the concern that if it’s not outlawed, someone might actually propose doing.

North Dakota Governor John Hoeven last week signed into law a two sentence bill that effectively forbids anyone from compelling someone else to have an RFID chip implanted under the skin. Wisconsin passed a similar law in 22006.

California currently has a bill before its state house that would outlaw the practice. The issue hasn’t gained much profile in Australia.

The law in North Dakota does not prohibit people getting a chip implant voluntarily. There remain applications like in the military, where soldiers can get chipped so they can be more easily tracked – and possibly so emergency medical records can be stored in-body.

The law has already attracted critics as not going far enough. Reports from the US say the law is took vague and could easily side-stepped. For example, some say the law only addresses RFID being injected under the skin, even though RFID tags can be attached in a variety of ways including swallowing.

The law doesn’t define what constitutes a person being forced to have an implant, critics say. For example, would it be considered force if a person was denied access to a government service if they didn’t get an implant? Or if they were given financial inducements.

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Lawmakers seek RFID privacy protections

LEGISLATORS in California are expected to vote within two weeks on bills that seek to regulate the way RFID (radio frequency IDs) can be used in government documents.

Like Australia, the debate in California has been about how privacy protections can be built into RFID-enabled identity systems.

In Australia that debate has focused on the Federal Government’s proposed Access Card, while lawmakers in California are seeking to put protections in place to cover a range of IDs, from student ID at schools to state driver’s licences.

It has been a testy debate in the Sacramento legislature. Legislation that was approved by lawmakers last year – and similar to what is now being proposed – was torpedoed by a Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger veto last October.

This time around, the provisions seeking to regulate RFID-enabled documents have been split into five separate bills, giving more moderate measures a better chance of making it into law.

Two of the bills seek to put a three-year moratorium on the use of RFID chips in either driver’s licences or school ID cards. Others create stop-gap privacy protections for RFID-based cards already used by Government, and make it a crime for unauthorised skimming of personal data from the card.

The last bill makes it illegal for companies to try to take the extreme measure of having employees implanted with an RFID chip.

It is not yet clear what attitude Governor Schwarzenegger will take to the bills, or whether he intends vetoing any or all of them – although it is thought he wants to keep open State options for using RFID chips in government IDs.

In Australia, Federal legislators have not sought to pass laws governing all possible government RFID-enabled documents.

The enabling legislation for the $1 billion Access Card project did not adequately provide protections for citizens and has been withdrawn for a re-write by Government.

The Australian Privacy Foundation has already rejected as inadequate the industry code of practice self-regulation proposals put forward by the product ID organisation GS1.

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IBM unveils WebSphere RFID tools

IBM has launched WebSphere-based middleware tools for extracting and simplifying the vast amounts of data created by new radio frequency identification (RFID) tag technology.

The WebSphere RFID Premises Server 6.0 aggregates and analyses RFID data and other sensor information from every corner of an enterprise and then applies built-in business logic.

IBM said the system leverages a Services Oriented Architecture, integrating that raw data with enterprise applications, such as ERP or billing systems.

The product was unveiled at the RFID World Conference in the Dallas, Texas.

IBM said the open architecture meant that data could be seamlessly connected with business processes, letting companies better capitalise on RFID technologies.

Specifically, it lets companies use data from remote locations – such as distribution centres or retail outlets – to create and manage RFID solutions based on real business scenarios, either to drive new revenue streams, or reduce costs.
Enabling data to flow across the enterprise in a more consistent, standardized and accessible manner is the key to attaining ROI from RFID data. Data that was once money left on the floor can be transformed into unanticipated revenue opportunities.

IDC estimates that an organization employing 1,000 knowledge workers loses US$5.7 million (A$7 million) annually, solely in time wasted reformatting information. Not finding the right information costs that same organisation an additional US$5.3 million a year.

“We're entering a new phase in RFID adoption, whereby business value is the name of the game," IBM vice-president Martin Wildberger said.

“As initial RFID deployments begin to evolve into large scale productions, RFID solutions must drive new business value, return on investment and business process flexibility and innovation,” he said.

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Privacy concerns over RFID plans

PRIVACY advocates have rejected a draft RFID Code of Practice for retailers issued by the barcode and product numbering association GS1, highlighting consumer concerns about the technology.

The Australian Privacy Foundation said the Code was “fundamentally flawed” because it did not protect consumers from RFID (radio frequency ID) technologies being used to track products after they pass the retail point of sale.

In a submission to GS1, the APF also expressed disappointment that GS1 had not taken the “next logical step” in registering the Code with the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, which would make it binding on signatories.

The APF submission welcomed the “timely and well-structured” GS1 initiative in seeking to create a Code of Practice. The foundation said it was particularly pleased that Code had defined the term ‘deactivation’ to mean that RFID tags could not be re-activated “in whole or in part.”

But it is highly critical of the Code putting the responsibility for ensuring deactivation on the consumer rather than the retailer.

“The draft Code of Practice is fundamentally flawed in its opt-out approach to de-activation at point of sale,” the Privacy Foundation submission said. “The default option should be that RFID tags are de-activated at the point of sale, unless the consumer expressly requests that the tag remains active.”

“We are also disappointed that the industry has not taken the next logical step of seeking registration of the Code by the Privacy Commissioner so that it becomes binding on signatories.

The AFP is also critical that the Code does not include the relationship between the retailer and the manufacturer in the way RFID can be used.

“While it is comforting for a consumer to know that the retailer from which a particular item was bought will not abuse the information that can be gathered, such a feeling may be one of false security should the tag be left active, and in the event that the manufacturer of the item or other third parties will be monitoring the tag,” the submission says.

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200 million chips shipped: Sony

SHIPMENTS of the Sony Felica integrated circuit chips used in contactless smartcards and mobile phones for e-money and public transport payment applications has topped 200 million.

Since 1996, Sony has shipped 160 million Felica chips for use in stored-value and e-money cards – like Suica and Edy in Japan and Octopus in Hong Kong – and 40 million to mobile phones with integrated money applications.

The company said Felica was now the defacto standard in Japan and much of Asia, though the chip has had less exposure in North America and Asia.

Sony said the first 100 million cumulative shipping total took ten years to reach. The second 100 million chips were shipped in 18 months.

Felica is an RFID technology that does not need a battery and is used in contactless reader applications. The chip works when a card or chip-enabled mobile phone is within a few centremetres of a reader, with the transaction taking less than 0.1 seconds.

The immediate popularity of Japan’s Osaifu-Keitai mobile phones – launched in summer 2004 – and rapid expansion of services such as automatic payment for public transportation systems and electronic money settlement have made major contributions to this growth.

In addition to Japan, the Felica cards are used by the Hong Kong Mass Transit Rail Corporation (MTRC) which has also spawned an e-money function, the Singapore ez-Link transport system, as well as other travel cards in Shenzhen in China, Bangkok and India.

The Felica technology is also used for credit transactions, employee ID, building access, membership cards and reward point cards.

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Civil liberties group eyes RFID hack

THE high profile Black Hat tech conference in Washington last week has attracted the attention of civil libertarians in the US as legal action forced a speaker to delete parts of a speech on RFID security problems.

The American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) was on hand to watch IOActive research and development director Chris Paget drastically modify his speech – removing a section that outlines specific security problems with RFID technology.

Mr Paget had been threatened with legal action by radio-frequency ID (RFID) card maker HID, which claimed the speech would breach HID intellectual property rights by making public HID code.

The action has caused a storm of controversy in global security circles. Mr Paget ultimately gave the speech outlining security concerns, but broadened it to say the security problems were not restricted to a single RFID vendor.

But the ACLU’s interest in the presentation was less about the use of IP rights to attack free speech – and more about the security concerns raised by Mr Paget, which it says has enormous implications for the US Department of Human Services Real ID proposal.

For the past three years, the ACLU has been looking closely at the privacy and security-related issues for RFID-enable passports, student IDs and driver’s licences.

It says there are real problems, because RFID cards can be hacked – and the IOActive presentation at Black Hat showed how.

RFID has become a hot-button issue for the ACLU since the Homeland Security Real ID proposal was attached to a bill through congress last year.

With the Australian Federal Government well advanced in planning for its smartcard-based Access Card, the security issue will almost certainly be taken up local privacy advocates and civil libertarians.

The Real ID initiative mandates that state’s overhaul their driver’s licence procedures and systems to include machine readable technology and a database holding citizen’s information. The database would then be connected to other state’s databases as well as a federal database – effectively federalising driver’s licenses as a national ID.

The ACLU says RFID-enabled ePassports in the UK and the Netherlands have already suffered security problems and wants to highlight the issue before Real ID gathers momentum.

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RFID national standards pilot extended

SUPPLY chain electronic standards body GS1 Australia has been given additional funding from the Federal Government to extend its national RFID/Electronic Product Code (EPC) pilot program.

Called the National Demonstrator Project (NDP), the pilot aims to develop a full business case and clearly show the return on investment for EPC/RFID for electronic proof of delivery by individual Australian businesses.

GS1 Australia general manager John Hearn said the project extension would run until the end of April to test the concept of paperless delivery and electronic proof of delivery (ePOD). It has been part funded by the federal Department of Communications, IT and the Arts (DCITA).

RMIT University and GS1 Australia will jointly manage the project and provide technical advice, while Telstra will continue to provide EPC communications through its Adaptive Asset Manager RFID solution and networking infrastructure for the project team.

Companies on the project team include Capilano Honey, CHEP. Franklins, Linfox, Masterfoods and Procter & Gamble. Retriever Communications will RFID-enable their application at CHEP and provide a scanning application for RFID readers, integrated into the Telstra systm.

“This extension will be useful to illustrate how EPC standards facilitate the interoperability of different pieces of technology, allowing companies to achieve complete integration of EPC information into their business process,” said RMIT University’s head of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering Dr John Mo.

The team expects that the pilot will provide quantifiable results about the benefits of using RFID technologies and EPC standards to facilitate paperless delivery and electronic proof of delivery (ePOD).

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Asset tracking system targets retailers

Retail technology specialist NCR has unveiled an asset tracking software system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) and other automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) technologies to help stores better manage point-of-sale equipment.

The company said its NCR Asset Visibility product is a foundation for a broad range of retail, logistics, warehouse and manufacturing applications.

Large retail chains can use the system to track and manage store assets such as end-cap displays, racks or bins, fixed or mobile point-of-sale hardware and shopping carts.

Or it can be used in combination with other software to track shopping carts as they move through a store can help retailers better understand consumer behavior and potentially increase revenue per customer.

“NCR Asset Visibility simplifies the infrastructure needed to enter, capture and cleanse data at the point of business activity,” NCR’s AIDC Solutions Group general manager Ken Hamlin said. “And it updates all relevant systems in real time.”

“Further, it gives organisations the flexibility to use the combination of technologies that best meets their requirements at a competitive cost, whether active or passive RFID, biometrics, bar codes, wireless LAN or cellular.”

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